Week 6: Bring it on Chile!!

11/4/14

Hola Familia y Amigas,
So today I leave for Chile at 3:30.  My flight is a 7:30 tonight and
will land in Santiago Chile at 7am.  So yes I know what you are
thinking, wow Hermana Corbett is awesome to be able to endure a 9 hr
flight (3hr time change) and probably not get any sleep and then have
a full day ahead of her in the morning.  Yep that is what I just keep
having to tell myself. haha Really though I am not worried though,
everything will just work out great.  I am excited to get to know my
new companion and branch and start teaching real people.  So stoked
with a side of some nerves. :)
So this past week has just been all sorts of crazy with my companion
leaving a few days early, and the whole rest of my district leaving
the day after that and having to pack and what not. Let me just say
that I am an awesome packer because my bags are both only like 42 lbs.
and all the other girls are like 60 so they will have to pay the fine.
 I am glad I only brought the necessity.

Love your Favorita Hermana,
Hermana Corbett
p.s.Thanks to all of you who send me pictures every week of your
lives.  The pictures make is 10 times better!
p.p.s Thanks so much for all the emails, prayers and support you have
given me. I feel the strength coming from you and the blessings the
Lord has already given me!!

MOM!!!
So yep I leave today at 3:30 and yes I am still one hour difference
from you.  I am telling dad as well, but I don´t think I will get a
time to call, because of all the traveling and I only have one short
layover so I probably won’t get to call, but less than two months and
we will get to skype!!! yeah and it will be on my 3 month marker
exactly.  If I do call it will be either at about 6 pm my time which
is 7pm your time, or 7 am Chile time which is 5 am your time tomorrow
morning.  They advise us not to call because then people miss their
flights, but we will see!  Also I don´t know when my Pday will be so I
might not get to write you for over a week. But we will see!  Thanks
so much for the package! I am so excited!! And I am so excited for
Chile!!
It is good to hear an update on life and wish I had time to answer
back about all of the parts, but I don´t.  So just know that I love to
hear everything you have to say.  Tell Austin he is the best and that
I love him and I am glad that he could have such a great birthday!!
Love you mom and thanks again so much for the package!  I am super
super excited.  It is going to be even more excited than when I got
your dear elder, and I was jumping up and down when I got that.
Thanks again for all of the prayers.  I have felt the strength that
comes from them!
Love your Daughter,
Hermana Corbett

Week 5: One more week!

10-29-13

Dear Familia y Amigas,  

So last week I was so worried about having enough time to write home, that I forgot to tell you about the whole dreaming in Spanish story that was my subject!! Well pretty much two weeks ago all my dreams one night were all in Spanish and it was pretty much me not being able to understand anything all night,  I only understood something’s, but then again I am pretty sure all the Spanish I heard that night was all just random jiberish, because I didn´t know Spanish.  I woke up with a massive headache.  So thanks for all your congratulations for me in being able to dream in Spanish, but no I am not there yet.  Still just trying to learn it when I am conscious, (yep don´t remember how to spell that word).  Although Spanish is coming more naturally and faster and it is really cool.  Yesterday when I was in a lesson all the words were coming to me when I was talking in Spanish before English. So I was thinking in Spanish!! It was crazy cool, because Spanish words are actually meaning something now and are not just a translated word. It was only for a little bit and while I was saying the prayer but it was really cool. So yeah Spanish is coming along, I feel like I should have been able to learn so much more in the time I have been here, but then I think about all the things I can do like teach a 40 min. lesson all in Spanish, pray in Spanish, get to know someone pretty well, understand pretty much all of what my teachers say in Spanish, even when they are talking fast, and I can conjugate verbs for the most part(which has been the hardest thing for me in so far).

So this past week has been really hard for me and my companion.  There are lots of reasons, but just overall everything was just weighing us down and we have been getting stressed out and not feeling like we are ready to be real missionaries or feel adequate enough to teach.  It has also been hard to be exactly obedient to every single rule.  There are just so many changes that are put on us missionaries so fast and so many new rules.  And we have been trying our hardest to follow all of them and change ourselves into obedient servants of God, and it has been harder that I thought it would be.  Yeah obedience sounds like an easy thing until you try to put it into action exactly.  I know I am not perfect, but during last week we jsut felt that would could be doing better. So on Sunday during planning we decided a few really specific things that we wanted to change that would help us be more obedient. So yesterday we did those changes and we could feel the blessings coming from sticking exactly to the schedule.  So yesterday was a great day until, Hermana Weller found out that she is leaving on Thursday evening around 10pm, which is really earlier because we don’t even have infield orientation until Friday and then most don´t usually leave until at least Sunday night.  Most of our flights are in the middle of the night. Except I have gotten lucky and I don´t leave until Monday in the afternoon at 2 and my flight leaves at 7:30.  So I will get to write another email before I leave on either Sunday or Monday.  And if I have extra time I might get to call home at the airport, but it all just depends!   So anyways this week has started off really stressful just because we are all getting nervous to leave and change again.  I am really excited, but I am going to miss all the many friends I have made here.  Oh and mom there are 3 other girls and 5 elders going to my mission with me, so don´t worry I will always be with someone! 

One cool thing that happened this past weekend that was fun was that Elder Allan of the 70 and MTC director over all the MTCs and mission work throughout all the world and church came and visited the campus to just do checks and see how everything is down here.  He came with a bunch of other leaders, so every time I saw one of them and got a chance to talk to them, I would through in complements about this place and how it is so much better than Provo.  It was kind of funny, because they would always be like "umm I don’t know about that because I really like the Provo MTC, but I promise I won’t tell them."  I don´t I just thought it was funny, but you guys probably won’t. haha but you might at least think it is funny that I think it is funny!  Elder Allan also gave the Sunday Devotional and it was awesome and he was really funny too.  I feel like he really understood us to the point that he could give us really good tips but at the same time call us out on what we were not doing good enough, which we need sometimes.  Also I was asked to give the closing prayer and I was really nervous, because first off it was in front of a bunch of people which I have gotten used to by now, but this was the first time I would have to do it in Spanish in front of a big group.  So at the end of his devo. he said something that got me a little choked up and so I had to take an extra deep breathe before going up.  I had only said prayers that were more for a personal or small group setting so my Spanish for prayers was very limited. So is almost everybody else’s, so most prayers are just really simple.  Although when I get up there my voice was a little emotional through the whole thing and all these things I wanted to say were coming into my head but some of the things I did not know how to say exactly right in Spanish because I have never had to say them before. So the prayer was really bad Spanish and some English, but in the end I was glad that I was asked to pray and say what I was really feeling.  It was a really great and humbling experience.  And I got to shake Elder Allan’s hand afterwards too.  It was a great devotional. 

So the most exciting thing that happened this week, was our 1 Month day which was last Friday.  My district had a party and we all went and bought junk food at the store beforehand.  We all mainly bought Chokies, which are a way better version of American Chips Ahoy.  Actually I don’t know if they are any better, but they are the only thing that is super amazing down here, so I usually buy like one pack a week.  Also elder peters in my district, his mom sent him a dozen krispy kreme doughnuts and he shared them with us.  They were heavenly and the closest thing to American food I have eaten since I have been here, although I do have to say that I have become much more open minded in food.  I really love most of the food that they have here.  I do want to say that their salsa is always really good, but really Mexicans do not have the kind of salsa we do that we eat with Chips.  So that was sad when I realized that was an American Mexican thing.  Well anyways our 1 month party was awesome and I realized that I will get to skype you all on my 3 month and 15 month days!!

 Last thing was that in Sunday night when my companion and I were feeling really stressed we asked for Priesthood blessings. I asked Elder Nielson (Prom photo guy...see below) and it was such a cool experience.  And not only for me but for him as well because it was his first time giving a blessing.  Just always remember that priesthood is something we should take more advantage of because it does not only bless us but blesses the priesthood holders as well.  And blessings are not just for school or illness.  God wants to bless us with almost anything we ask, but we must first show our faith and ask.  I love the priesthood and look up to them so much.

Oh and to all of you guys that I did not email back last week and this week, I am sorry, I normally run out of time and this week I am writing you all letters, so I will just write you back in there.

Love you all so very much and pray for you always!!

Love Your Favorite Hermana,

Hermana Kate Corbett

I am writing at 4 pm my time today, so write by then or get on then and chat me!! "That would not be funny in America"

10/15/13

Hola Familia y Amigas!!

So first off I love hearing from all of you! I would love to hear from any of my three brothers as well, but I will do with what I have got! 

Second I am going to call all ye to repentance for two reasons.  1.Please write at least the day before so I can print off ALL my emails in the morning and am not wasting half my time on the computer reading emails, because now my email this week will be extremely short and I have a lot to say.  2. To help in this...USEdearelder.com!!!!  LIKE A LOT!  Reasons why... you can do it from your iPhone(so mo excuses), it does not cost in the MTC and only cost 45 cents on my mission, I get your message the same day, I get letters, and I have keep sakes that I can read whenever I want throughout the week and mission!!! SO please use it!!! Or please write the day before!!

Okay so onto my slightly shorter email because I only have 20 minutes left.

 First off yesterday was probably my favorite day here.  It started off horrible but I don't need to get into that.  But the rest of the day was awesome for 3 reasons.  First we had to teach our investigator/teacher and we had this whole lesson practiced about the plan of salvation, but during our service project yesterday Hermana Weller and I felt impressed with changing our whole lesson and teaching on the importance of the Book of Mormon and how without a testimony of the Book of Mormon a testimony of the rest of the church does not stand.  Well with only a tiny bit of practice we went into that lesson and really relied on the Spirit and it went way better than our other lesson could have gone!! So Heidi for you and your talk;  Revelation is all about the spirit and acting on its promptings and always be seeking the spirit to be with you always.  And always pray to have it like 10 times a day.  That is what we do here!   Then the next thing we went to was TRC which is where we teach, but we teach actual people and not just pretend investigators.  So last week we taught another set of missionaries and they taught me and my companion.  So we don't go in with a lesson, but just go in and try to figure out a need they have then use the scriptures or a small message that we think will help them come unto Christ and this is all in Spanish let me remind you! So I guess I could say my Spanish is coming along.  Well yesterday for TRC we didn’t have enough people for each comp. in my district to teach, so we all team taught one girl who is 19 named Itzel. She is a convert of 2 months and her family is not members and they are supporting her less and less and have really been against the church this past week.  We talked with her and share scriptures and she shared scriptures with us.  She definitely has a light about her and has so much faith for her situation.  And my district has team taught before, but usually a few people dominate the conv. but yesterday we all talked and all felt the spirit and were all kind of crying by the end. This email is not doing this experience justice.  Well anyways afterwards we went back to class and our teacher had stayed to talk to her for a little bit and when he got back to class he told us that she was about to give up on the church this week, but her friend who is another teacher here convinced her to come help out with TRC one more time and I know we truly changed her and gave her the strength she needed.  Okay let me rephrase that the Spirit gave her the strength she needed and I have so much love for her and she has changed me as a missionary already!!!  The gospel is true you guys now don’t forget it.

Okay so funny story of the week: One of the sets of elders in my district were teaching our inves./teacher about how Jesus Christ died for us because he loves us and then they asked him how in his life he could follow the example of Jesus Christ!  He was like "Well I guess I could die!"  It was so funny.  Our teacher pulls all the tricks out on us when we teach him.  He even has fallen asleep a few times...so annoying trying to teach to a sleeping person!

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!

Dear mi Familia y Amigas,                                             10-8-13

Everyone says my time here will fly by, but it has only been 2 weeks and I feel like I have be here for a whole 2 months already.  I like it more and more here, and I miss you guys all the same but I at least I am getting less homesick and more focused on why I am here!  I am slowly starting to get more and more tired, because as you all know, I love my sleep! But today is P-day and so I will get to take a nap this afternoon! Score!  Well the week has been as busy as ever, everyone was looking forward to General Conf. all last week!  It seriously was like a holiday weekend here at the CCM.  We watched conf. and all the time in between we got additional study time, so that gave me a little extra time to study the scriptures for myself and write a hand written letter home to include in detail all the things I have missed.  If my English starts to get worse on here, I apologize, because I am already forgetting how to spell in English. So as my Spanish gets better, my English will probably get worse.  I have heard that it takes some people a week or two to remember English again when they get off their missions. Crazy! haha

So general Conference was amazing and I am going to write down a few of my favorite quotes/talks. I love how Hales said right at the beginning ''Oh how we need Conference." I love that because that is one of the main differences between other churches and ours, is that first off we have a prophet and second that we get to hear him speak to us semi annually. Then I like Dube's talk when he said "Faith is always pointing to the future." That was the main message I got out of conference this year, especially since it is something that I have really been learning and pondering in the MTC. Faith is always something we must show and act on, otherwise they are just words. And we must show our faith first to gain a testimony of a principle and receive the blessings afterwards.  I have also learned in the MTC from Alma 58:40, that we need to have exact obedience which shows our faith even more.   Then I loved Uchtdorfs talk the absolute best and also loved Monson's and Eyrings's. I don't really have time to get into my favorite parts but I know the quote, "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" will be being said forever. And the scripture that I heard the most often said that I love is "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Wish I had three hours to write just on Conference, but I don't so I shall move on.

So things I missed saying from last week: Sundays are the best here. Everyone always tells you here on your first week, just make it to Sunday and you will be great. We have church in the morning and then a devotional in the afternoon and then a church movie in the evening. We watch the stonecutter and faith in Christ videos last week and this week we watched The Testaments. I normally cry at the end, but this week I was pretty much crying throughout the whole thing, because I could completely feel how much love Jesus Christ had for the people in Jerusalem that healed, the people in the Americas at the time, the people on the earth now that had never heard the gospel, and the love he has for me specifically and how a some point during the atonement, he was thinking only of me and suffering only for me and how I owe him everything. I love him so much and I want to share my thoughts with the people of Chile and my friends and family back home. I love this gospel and I know it is the only thing that brings true happiness. Second last week at the temple I forgot to mention the chandelier in the Celestial Room. It literally was the prettiest chandelier I have ever seen. Most kinds have a lot of dangles parts put this one had all its part completely connected and in the shape of an upside-down star tiered cake and just the most gorgeous gold. It was the best!

Well anyways for this week, we are not new!! It was awesome last Wednesday to see all the new people showing up and me and my roommates had a little celebration by eating peanut butter and chocolate. I will attach pictures.

I love my companion Hermana Weller, as I said before she is 28 and from Portland Oregon, Go Ducks as she would say(There are 2nd in the nation in college football) She has grown up in the church, although when she was 17 she left the church and did not come back for at least 6 years. She says that she left because she wanted to do what she wanted and she didn't really have any friends in the church. After about 5 years she finally realized that what she was doing was not actually bringing her happiness. But it took her Dads invitation to have her come be there for when he was set apart as the Sunday School President that got her back to church just the once, and then shortly after she decided she wanted to take the missionary discussions again and through the sister missionaries she came back to church and now has been truly converted for herself. So lessons I have learned from her: 1. As a youth you have to learn to gain your own testimony and become truly converted for yourself, because when the true trials come, you will need your own testimony and relationship with Christ to lean on. 2. Dad this is for you. She said the members of the ward would come by every so often when she was inactive and she would never answer the door because she felt so guilty. She only opened it once when it was her loving bishop who she used to be pretty close to, and even then she still didn't come back to church right away. She said she needed to feel wanted and loved in the church, but if it wasn't by someone she was super close to, it didn't matter. You can only bring those back to the church if you already have a good relationship with them and they are willing.  They have their agency as well.  And if you don't have a relationship with them and you truly want them to come back, you have to be very genuine and gain their trust without the church involved first.  Invite them over for dinner, maybe without the missionaries for the first time. Hermana Weller said that before she had come out on the mission, she got really close with the sister missionaries in her ward, and they would invite all the inactive members/investigators/friends to come play volleyball with them on Thursday nights with the missionaries present.  She said it really worked, because then those people were more likely to come to a non commitment/ non salvation oriented activity first and they would get to know the missionaries on a friendship level.  3. As I kind of mentioned before and as General conference addressed.  Everyone still has there agency to choose and some people have already completely made up their mind about their lives. But dad I know all the work that you are doing in the ward is helping and most people have not made up their minds about their lives and you and the entire ward can help them make the right decision and come to know their Elder brother Jesus Christ, who loves them just as much as you and me, so much more.  Hermanas experience has helped me to change my perspective on missionary work and I thank her for that.

The thing I have really learned this week: Prayer. We need to be really specific in our prayers. We pray at least 20 times a day here at the CCM and it is great and I have found that when I pray for general things, I get general answers, but when I pray for a very very specific thing I get a very specific answer Heavenly Father can answer my prayers with exactly what I needed. So pray often and pray with specific things you are grateful for and specific people you want to bless and bless them with and pray for specific answers in your life.

Funnies of the week:

1. One of the elders in my district was teaching our investigator who is still our investigator, but also our teacher now, which is a cooler experience than you will ever know. (If I have time I will tell you more about that.) Well this elder was asking him what his goals were in Spanish and the investigator was not understanding his Spanish. well he pauses for a few seconds, and then raises his arms and yells GOOOAAAL like at a football game. The investigator got it after that. We all got a good laugh!

2. My companion and I have been practicing our lesson all week and She kept pronouncing amoroso (means loving) as al muerso (means lunch). So she would say God is our lunch compared to God is our loving Heavenly Father. So I made her keep saying it the right way to practice so she would not say it wrong in the lesson and even wrote a pronunciations guide of the word on our notes. And guess what she still said Lunch in the lesson. Our investigator/teacher chuckled for a second and then when she realized she said it wrong... again... she starts dying laughing and then I start dying and then he starts dying and we are all leaning over with our heads down literally dying of laughter. Then when we finally pull it together and take deep breathes it starts all over again as you know how it goes. Well we did get to end our lesson though finally. It was awesome. Oh and he fell asleep on us again!! He likes to give us a challenge when we teach him. Well he is right it is a challenge trying to teach with the spirit to someone sleeping. Well hopefully by the end of this MTC experience I will be prepared for all! Probably not!

3. Appearently I am funny here...or at least my roommates think so.  I could be because I was somehow given a funny gift in my setting apart, or my roommates have a dumb sense of humor like, or we have nothing to entertain us and so anything I say is funny.  i think it is the latter becasue we as missionaries laugh at everything, seriously everything!  Well yep I am funny now...who knew!

Oh and for those of you that want to write me hand written letters, I think dear elder works for here, but if you don't write them within the next week and a half just send them to my chile mission address which is on my facebook, becasue it takes letters 2 weeks or more for letters to get here. I love letters just to remind you all!

Sorry if I forget to put things in my emails, or you are confused or I repeat myself. I just have so much to say in so little time. So I have probably forgotten a bunch of stuff.  Love you all...again!!

Thanks again for all your emails I love hearing from you all!  P-day is awesome.

Love,

Hermana Corbett

In a whole new world

10-1-13

I just printed off my emails, and I will be getting back on in a few hours probably around 4 my time, which is 5 your time.  Just to let you know! I love you all!

Hermana Corbett

Dear Familia,     10-1-13

So to start off congrats Abby and Logan on Amelia! So cute! Congrats Carson on the Engagement! So exciting!  Mariah, I hope your first date was awesome. Heidi, I am excited that you got to go on a date with someone you liked.  Austin I hope you had fun kayaking. Craziest week of our lives!!

So this has definitely been the hardest and longest week of my entire life!!  I was fine the first day, because it had not really set in and I was just exhausted from traveling all day and moving in and helping everyone else move in.  Then on Thursday the 26th it was not that bad either, because we didn’t really do much because it was just a lot of orientations, and everything was in English still.  Then Friday hit and it was probably one of the worst days of my life and definitely the longest day of my life. We woke up early, (which actually has been that pad for me so far, surprising right?) and then we had breakfast and then went straight to a four hour class that felt like a whole week in and of itself and they only spoke Spanish.  Not a single word of English. I was kind of lost the whole time but was actually able to understand more than I thought I would. And then we had to study for teaching our first investigator that afternoon in Espanola.  And they only gave us an hour or so to make a lesson and have to translate it as well.  It was so hard and stressful!  I missed you guys so much that day and cried so often. 

Okay well anyways let’s get past the sappy sad parts because I have had some good times here as well.

So let’s start with the CCM (Mexico MTC) in Spanish it is pronounced (ce ce eme or in English words say M A)  So here in Mexico fireworks are a big part of their culture, so little cherry bomb fireworks go off all the time and they sound like gunshots.  We thought they were gunshots the first night.  The food is pretty good.  It is all Mexican and mostly we have different types of chicken with refried beans and they always have fruit out every meal.  Os I get lots of pineapple and watermelon.  And for breakfast and dinner they put out cereal, fruit loops being my favorite, and peanut butter, nutella and bread. So I have a peanut butter sandwich here and there.  And tonight we have a devotional and PIZZA NIGHT!  Awesome!

Everyday but Sundays we get about an hour of gym time, so far me and mi companera have gone and played beach volleyball every time.  It is so fun and I have gotten to know a lot of new people that way.  So this is for you Mom, we sing Spanish hymns a lot obviously, but think how hard it is to sing loud when you really don't know the words or how to pronounce them.  I am getting better though. 

My companion Hermana Weller is from Portland and is 28.  She is really nice and left the church when she was 17 but came back to church 2 years ago.  I will talk more about that next week, but I am running out of time.  And I want to upload pictures.

So funny stories of the week:  There are a few of them because Spanish makes everything funny.

Numero Uno: On the second day I was still carrying around my green info packet because I didn't know everything I needed to yet. Well since I had that everyone knew I was new.  So everywhere I went people would say Bienvenidos to me.  I thought that was just a cool way of saying hello, so I would say it back to everyone.  This is how they really knew I was new, because bienvenidos means welcome, which obviously is okay for them to say to me but not me back.  I got a good laugh out of that.

Numero Dos:  So on Saturday, me and my companera were practicing our testimonies to each other in Spanish because it was testimony meeting on Sunday.  So she was telling me hers and I stopped her because I thought she said "Jesucristo vive en el Salvador." Which means Jesus Christ lives in El Salvador.  I thought it was really funny that she said that but then she repeated it and I realized she said  "Jesucristo vive y es el Savador" which means Jesus Christ lives and is the Savior.  Yeah that makes much more sense.  We got a kick out of that.  Plus it was like 9 at night and so we get really loppy because we are so tired.

Numero Tres: Tie in Spanish is Corbeta, so some people call me Sister Tie.  It was not funny until I remembered Elder Tye and thought about how if Heidi had married him, she would not really be changing her name. 

There is so much that I didn't get to say or pictures that I didn't get to upload but I will try and write faster next week! 

Love you guys so much and I miss you more than you know!!

With muchos Love,

Hermana Corbett

HOLA from MEXICO!!!

 9-25-13

 I made it and have taken tons of pictures so far, except I don´t think I have time to upload them today.  So far the only thing we have done is get our packet and now we are all on computers.  So not much to tell yet about the CCM.  Traveling we really good! Once I met about with a few of the sisters and elders, Dad left and then a bunch more came and we all became instant friends. It was such a relief and way less emotional having dad with me for that first flight!  There were 4 other girls and 12 other boys that we traveled with.  Once we left the Airport we took a bus over here to the CCM.  Let me just say that Mexico drivers are so crazy and half the time there are not even lane lines, so you are about 6 inches from every other car.  And most of them were actually not cars, it was pretty much all semi´s and buses.  So intense but fun!!

   From what I have seen of the CCM it is beautiful!!  They told us it is pretty much a four star hotel compared to everything else here in Mexico, but it is also way nicer than the Provo MTC as well.  They have to share a tiny room with 6 people and a bathroom in the hall.  But here they said we have four people to little apts. so it is really nice.  So I am safe and it has been a really fun day and very eventful!! I am excited!

   Thanks for all your support, encouragment and prayers! Love You All!!!

Your favorite Hermana,

Hermana Corbett